ViaSat awarded $60M SpaWar contract boost

CARLSBAD -- ViaSat Inc. has been awarded a contract valued at
about $60 million to develop a radio communications system for the
Navy's San Diego-based Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.

The contract raises the amount of ViaSat's work on a
communications system that enables various military wireless
devices to work together. With the additional work on what is
called the Multifunctional Information Distribution System program,
the company will have contracted for $112 million in the last 12
months, ViaSat spokesman Bruce Rowe said.

Under the contract, technically an expansion of an existing
order, ViaSat is developing a communications terminal that complies
with the military's Joint Tactical Radio System technology. The
terminal ViaSat is to develop is supposed to work interchangeably
with communications systems used by the U.S. Navy and Air
Force.

ViaSat is adding at least four engineering jobs in connection
with the expanded order, Rowe said. The company has about 950
employees, with 555 in its Carlsbad headquarters, he said. The
company currently has an order backlog of $304 million, he said,
with about $170 million in government work.

The SpaWar work fits with ViaSat's "sweet spot" of designing
efficient and secure wireless communications equipment, Rowe said.
SpaWar's location in San Diego is also an advantage, Rowe said.

"The ability to meet face to face on a regular basis makes the
working relationship that much stronger and more productive," Rowe
said.

SpaWar's role is to provide the military with better information
sources, including communications systems. The agency spends about
$1.2 billion annually in San Diego County through its contracts,
according to an October 2003 data sheet on the agency's Web site.
Total agency spending is about $4.7 billion annually.